Life in Motion
Current Vibes: Chicago
Scuba diving had been an item on my bucket list since I had gone to the Bahamas and tried to Snuba. My love for being underwater was a total surprise since I grew up hating the smell of chlorine. But there’s something majestic about floating…
Animal tourism is a huge issue in Southeast Asia. In developing countries where tourism is often one of the more lucrative ways to make a living, tour operations often overlook the wellbeing of these animals. This is the case with the elephant tourism industry in…
It was 3am when I rolled out of bed, threw on some clothes, and stumbled onto the hostel’s patio to wait for the van to pick me up. The agenda? Watch the sunrise over Borobudur Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Built in…
This trip to Guatemala was my first organized group trip. Six strangers met for the first time to travel a foreign country together, mixing service with adventure, all while being filmed by a YouTube influencer… It was very much a Road Rules experience of the…
Back in May, I went on my first organized group / volunteer trip with Hopscotch the Globe. This travel experience was much different from what I was used to—then again, what exactly is the typical travel experience for me, anyway? (That’s another blog post for…
I spent some time this weekend rereading posts about my time in Southeast Asia. The longer I’m back in the States, the more the experience feels like a distant memory. Reading the posts reaffirmed why I started this blog—not just to keep in touch with…
After four months of living the freelance life, I decided to take a full time job with benefits. Well, sort of. It’s a full time job with benefits, but I’m also working like four side hustles because I’m me but that’s completely besides the point.…
Earlier this year, I lived in a tiny 500 square-foot studio by myself. While there, I was able to to shape my lifestyle completely by my own standards. Among pairing down what I owned to the bare minimum, I also had a few habits that…
Here’s the thing: I love traveling by myself, but it’s great to travel with other people too. I’m incredibly malleable, and have the tendency to go with the flow of present company, which gets me outside my comfort zone. And as I get more comfortable…
“I’m cutting my trip short,” I said to a new friend in Laos, “because my cat’s sick and is going through an operation. That also means I’m out of money.” “I don’t understand. It’s an animal. Animals die,” she replied. “I’m American. Americans tend to…
The most affordable flight back the the U.S. from Luang Prabang landed me in two Chinese cities over the course of two days. My first overnight layover was in Kunming, China, located in the southern Yunnan province. The second overnight layover was in Beijing. How…
Luang Prabang is a beautifully quaint town nestled between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. A UNESCO protected site, the city was the royal capital of the Luang Prabang province until 1975. It was briefly occupied by France in the 19th century when the French…
In my last post, I mentioned that my roommate from Chicago messaged me saying my cat was in the ER. Turns out he had a life-threatening blockage and needed to go into surgery, or else die a pretty painful death. I won’t go too much…